Conan in NYC!

Today is the opening of the NYC MOCA (Museum of Conan Art)! Two of my pieces are in the show, the Conan Blimp and my little Conan doll! Anyone in New York should get over there. Besides the artwork there is an audio tour starring Conan and Andy, and a Conan “loveseat” that sounds amazing. Who’s going??

Here are the details:

WHEN: October 24 — November 3, 2011, 9am — 9pm
WHERE: The Shops at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner Center, 2nd floor, New York
The NY COCO MoCA exhibit will feature:
•    More than 50 pieces of CONAN fan art in a wide variety of media;
•    An audio tour of select pieces, voiced by Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter;
•    An original, commissioned sculpture of Conan by artist Federico Uribe, represented by Miami’s Now Contemporary Art Gallery;
•    The CONAN Loveseat, Team Coco’s interactive robotic couch sculpture that talks to fans, hugs them and takes a picture for them to share through social media;
•    Numerous chances each day for gallery visitors to win special prizes, including autographed CONAN posters, museum buttons, limited-edition t-shirts and more (while supplies last).

The Conan Blimp and lil’ Coco

Billy Wins! The King of Kong

This summer I was invited to have some of my work in the iam8bit show in LA. It was a fun, crazy trip, and I realized I never blogged about my pieces!

I had two pieces in the show, and I’ll show you the second at a later date. The first piece is titled, “Billy Wins!” Please tell me you’ve watched the documentary “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters“! It is such a great film, full of fascinating people, one of whom is Billy Mitchell. Billy claims to be the reigning champ of the classic arcade game, Donkey Kong, and in the movie, his arch-nemesis, Steve Wiebe, attempts to pin him down to a championship battle. The highlight of the movie for me (and I’m sure many others) is Billy Mitchell. He is so interesting, in a cocky and self-absorbed way. I drew my inspiration for this piece from him. Billy Mitchell has conquered Donkey Kong and in an ultimate act of victory, lies down on a Donkey Kong-skin rug, giving his trademark thumbs-up sign. Of course Billy would not be without his favorite star spangled tie, and his long flowing locks and full beard complete the look.

Billy Wins!

Billy Wins! at the gallery

Me and Billy!

What I wouldn’t give to have a photo of Billy Mitchell with little Billy!

I hope you like him too! If you really really like him, he is for sale on the iam8bit gallery website.

My Salacious and Flaming Creations

Have you heard of the Bear and Bird Gallery’s Stitch Wars Strikes Back? I was honored to be invited to contribute to this year’s show, opening August 12th in Lauderhill, Florida. 

See what I made? Jabba’s annoying maniacally laughing little court jester, Salacious Crumb!

While he may not be the most BEAUTIFUL thing to look at, I think he’s kinda cute. He is fun to play with, for sure, since his limbs, tail, and ears are all poseable. Wanna know how I did that? Check out my past tutorial. This time I used 12 gauge wire because he’s HUGE! I construct everything, then feed the wire through one arm, through the body, and into the other arm; same with the legs.

Tomorrow he’s off to Florida (sniff sniff). My little boys are sad about that! But go see him if you’re able to. The show should be awesome!

Aren’t I lucky?? Salacious Crumb isn’t the only one of my creations that will be in a gallery! This week at Comic-Con, in San Diego, the amazing Team Coco and TBS are hosting a Flaming C exhibit and I was asked to add my crocheted Flaming C to the Coco MoCA (Museum of Conan Art)!

Since I had already given away my original Flaming C, I made another, and I liked this one even better! On the original, poor C didn’t have his Blackberry. This time, there it is, ready for Flaming C to answer very important calls for help. So will you be in San Diego for Comic-Con? Go see my Flaming C and the rest of the amazing artwork in the gallery!

How about that? Being crafty IS cool, and sometimes craft=art!

>Renegade Recap and What’s Next?

>Renegade Craft Fair was amazing! I am so grateful I was chosen to be a part of it. I met lots of people, saw some really awesome handmade goodness and had a lot of fun! I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my sweet sister, Jennifer Stewart, who not only helped me set up my booth and let me borrow almost everything I used, but she sat all day with me on Saturday and talked about amigurumi with people! Also, I’m so thankful for my husband Paul for sitting all day on Sunday and getting a good dose of my crafty promoting. He’s a fan. 🙂  Here’s some booth photos…

 Fun, huh? I had free stickers, a TON of business cards, a nifty Square device to take credit cards (which was awesome and made this so easy!), and lots and lots of amigurumi! My owl kits were really popular and I sold out of almost all of them! I think next time I’ll definitely do some more kits. I also had a big rack of patterns for sale (thank you Borders near me for going out of business!) with some super good deals.

So it was a busy few months leading up to Renegade, especially since I wasn’t sure what to expect (I hadn’t done Renegade before) and I didn’t know what was going to be the most in demand. Since I didn’t know, I just made a lot of everything! Now that its behind me, I am having a blast working on some new things!

I just finished designing a custom doll for a special someone’s birthday. Working from pictures, I created a doll complete with a hat, apron, glasses, and a pie! The recipient hasn’t gotten his gift yet so I can’t show you a side by side comparison yet! If you recognize him, please don’t spoil the surprise! I’ve blurred out the name on his cap so –ssshhhhhhhh! Soon I’ll post a photo of the man himself holding his mini-me.

I absolutely LOVE making these custom dolls! So fun!

Now what? I’m working on several things. First, there’s this hot new yarn you’ve heard about, Sheep(ish), by Vickie Howell for Caron. Thursday I’m a stop on her blog tour, and I’ll be doing a giveaway of an amigurumi and a skein of yarn. I designed a new pattern (amigurumi of course!) for Sheep(ish) that will be released in June on her website. Come back Thursday!

Next I’m finishing up a design for Lion Brand Yarn, which will be coming out some time this fall. It’s going to be really cute! It is being made with some fabulous, amazing, magical yarn. Really, you will LOVE it.

Last but not least, I’m going to have my work featured in two gallery shows this summer! I cannot WAIT for this.

I designed a few pieces for the iam8bit show coming up this summer in LA. So of course my husband and I will be there for the show! If you haven’t heard of it, iam8bit is a production company that has an annual art show featuring work that celebrates retro video games. I really love the stuff I made for it and I will post pictures here just as soon as I get the OK. To the left is a picture of some of the work that has been in the show in the past.

The second show will be the Bear and Bird Gallery’s “Stitch Wars Strikes Back” — that’s right! Star Wars themed! I can’t wait for this one either. Again, photos will be up as soon as possible!

Please check out my new tabs up top—there’s a Gallery, an About Me, and a Custom Order page. I’ve added a few finished amigurumi and when they’re gone, that will be it for a while! Thanks everyone for visiting!